JOHNSTON SHERIFF FEARS NEW DRUG PLAGUE

Meth On the Rise in Eastern N.C

SMITHFIELD -- The number of illicit methamphetamine labs in Johnston County
has risen so sharply in recent months that the sheriff's drug agents are
now focusing almost exclusively on the problem. In the past five months
alone, Johnston law enforcement officials have raided eight meth labs,
arresting 17 people and seizing 3 kilograms of meth valued at $300,000 on
the street. Nine labs were raided in Johnston in 2002, making it the
leading meth-producing county in Eastern North Carolina and second in the
state only to Rutherford County.

"It's finally starting to get to us," said Capt. Craig Fish, who was hired
Monday to lead the narcotics division of the Johnston County Sheriff's
Department. "We're trying to build a wall up, so it doesn't come and hit us
so hard."

Meth, a highly addictive stimulant that users snort, smoke or inject, is
considered one of the most dangerous narcotics because it has no natural
ingredients, unlike marijuana, cocaine or heroin. Most meth is concocted of
easily available chemicals in "super labs" that produce hundreds of pounds
at a time, but homemade meth can be cooked in as little space as a bathroom.

Sheriff Steve Bizzell, whose November re-election campaign centered on
aggressive antidrug efforts, instructed Fish to make meth labs the
division's top priority and has trained the narcotics deputies in handling
the toxic byproducts created by meth.

"We have limited resources in the [narcotics] division," Bizzell said. "But
I stay on them all the time."

According to state drug enforcement officials, rural counties near the
Triangle -- particularly Johnston, Harnett and Sampson -- have become hubs
of meth activity in Eastern North Carolina. Although meth labs there are
still not as widespread as in the western part of the state, drug agents
are bracing for what they see as an inevitable epidemic.

"This is a nightmare phenomenon that has moved from the West Coast
eastward," said Attorney General Roy Cooper. "With these secret drug labs,
the drug kingpins are now right in our back yards."

In 2002, 97 methamphetamine labs were found in the state, more than triple
the 29 found in 2001. Cooper said that at current rates, he fears the
number of meth labs in North Carolina will double this year.

In Johnston County, as in other counties around the state, methamphetamine
was first spread by distributors trucking in the substance from Mexico and
California. But users soon found they could cook their own meth at a far
lower cost.

It takes only a few hours to make meth from a volatile cocktail of
household ingredients. Anhydrous ammonia, commonly used as a farm
fertilizer, is the only expensive ingredient, so the cooks steal it, drug
enforcement officials said.

"They're stealing the farmers of Johnston County blind of their anhydrous
ammonia," Fish said. "Any farmer that has this thing needs to lock it up,
not leave it sitting under a lean-to."

The labs are small and easy to conceal, so deputies in Johnston look for a
signature sulfur stench. Sometimes the flammable, toxic fumes cause an
explosion. But without those signs, the labs are hard to nose out in
Johnston's rural expanses.

"You'll have maybe a neighbor who might smell something, a strange smell,
and call local law enforcement," said Matt Addington, who heads the federal
Drug Enforcement Agency office in Raleigh. "Getting out into the rural
communities, a lot of it is reactive law enforcement."

Even the simplest raid requires all of the Johnston narcotics division's
five deputies -- plus Fish, the chief. Every hand is needed to secure the
area, arrest suspects and, most important, carefully handle the toxic
chemicals and waste created in the labs.

But with his few deputies canvassing Johnston for meth labs, Fish worries
that the county will see a resurgence in marijuana, heroin and cocaine
trafficking along its main highways, Interstates 40 and 95. Bizzell agrees
and he said he will request more narcotics deputies in next year's budget.

"I feel like we're going to fall behind with all the other narcotics if we
don't get some more manpower," Fish said.